The BEST Basic Pancake Recipe

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Best Basic Pancake Recipe

For years, I used a box mix to make pancakes. It was easy — just add water (and maybe an egg, depending on the fanciness of the mix) and pour the batter on the griddle. Then the internet came along and showed me that I could make pancakes from scratch and at a fraction of the cost of a mix.

And, surprise! The pancakes actually taste better.

First, we must master the basic pancake. And while whipping up a batch takes no time at all, there are some rules to pancake creation to make sure your pancakes turn out fluffy and delicious every time:

Make sure your ingredients are fresh. For instance, your baking soda should be less than 6 months old.

Mix the wet and dry ingredients in separate bowls and then combine them right before you’re ready to start cooking.

Don’t overmix your batter, as stirring too much will make your pancakes chewy instead of fluffy. Leave the lumps. The streaks of flour will even out during cooking.

Don’t mix your chocolate chips or berries into the batter. Instead, add them one at a time right after you pour the batter. This will make sure they are in the center of the pancake.

Wait to flip your pancake until the batter bubbles actually pop and the bottom is golden brown.

Use a (or another thin spatula like this ) for your flipping to avoid messy pancake flip.

Don’t pat your pancakes! Leave them alone while cooking. I’m still trying to teach this to my young kitchen helpers that love to smack the tops of cooking cakes.

I’ve also found that the right supplies will make the pancake making job easier. Here’s what we have in our home:

A — we eat a lot of pancakes during a meal, and nothing is more annoying than everyone waiting for 6 pancakes to cook at a time. We have moved to a giant electric griddle and can now crank out tons of cakes in minimal time.

— I don’t know how I did life before these spoons. Now I get the same sized pancakes and not near the mess. These spoons are also perfect for pouring cake batter into cupcake pans. They’re also awesome sand box scoops.

— This beats the high fructose stuff every time. You can get a “good deal” on Grade B at WinCo, Costco, Trader Joe’s, and Amazon, but understand that it’s spendy compared to the regular stuff. And totally worth it.

Once you have the pancake rules down and supplies in hand, it’s time to master a basic pancake recipe. Tweak it to suite your taste and then start adding chocolate chips, berries, , nuts, and other ingredients to jazz things up.

Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add eggs, milk and vanilla. Stir to combine. Remember, don’t overmix!

On a hot griddle, add butter to coat pan to keep pancakes from sticking.

Pour batter onto hot griddle, about 1/2 cup per pancake. More or less depending on the size you prefer. Let cook about 3 minutes, until bubbles begin to pop on the batter, and edges are brown. Flip pancake and cook other side for about 2 minutes.

Serve hot with butter and maple syrup.

Looking for more pancake inspiration?

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I was looking for a quick, no-brainer pancake base. I halved the recipe, used coconut sugar and coconut oil, and added a shake of flax meal for iron (and a little extra milk). While cooking on first side, I added some thawed frozen berry mixture and some chopped, grated lemon zest. 12 year old son just inhaled three of the little pancakes that I was planning on putting in his lunch. Made 9 4-inch pancakes with half a recipe.

Easy recipe! I can’t exactly review the taste because I belatedly realized we were out of milk so I had to sub water. The taste was a bit off with that, though my kids didn’t notice a bit and wolfed them down. They were super fluffy though! I got about 12 good sized pancakes out of the batch. Thanks! I’ll be trying this again when I have milk. 😀

Made a double batch this morning to store and take camping this week. Used coconut oil as my oil and almond milk (because I ran out of milk). I too was questioning the powder vs. soda. They turned out perfect- fluffy and just enough sweetness to necessitate maple syrup 😉

I had the same baking powder vs. soda question that Claudia had, but ended up going with what the recipe said & used powder. I followed it & ended up with super runny batter & super flat pancakes. I am actually a baker so I am pretty sure the baking powder was fresh, but perhaps not. I would imagine if the baking powder was bad that would show up only when it’s cooked, not in the form of runny batter. It was like I missed a cup of flour but I measured 2 out! Also I didn’t know if super high Georgia summer humidity played a role in changing the batter consistency. They are very tasty for sure but I so wanted them thick like in the photo! Will give another shot maybe in the fall when it isn’t so humid & with new baking powder.

I was actually reading this article, and read the “make sure your baking soda is less than 6 months old” part, which I get.
Opened up my one box, as I get getting my ingredients out. When I get to the recipe, I see baking powder, but no baking soda. Baking powder is even repeated in the steps, but makes less sense than baking soda.
Which is it?

I made these a couple of days ago for a breakfast-for-dinner night. They are so delicious and perfect!

I used my blend of gluten free flour and I found that they needed about 1/2 cup more of milk. It could be just my flour blend, but if the batter looks like it could be runnier, it certainly won’t hurt to add more milk.

They came out perfectly on my stove top griddle. Baked up thick and fluffy just like the picture. The best part is that they taste like true HOTCAKES, not the southern variety most commonly served here in TX that taste sour and just… too buttermilk-y.

Thank you and this is my go to pancake recipe! I hadn’t found one I liked since going gluten free but this is perfect. I kept all measurements and everything totally the same except for adding extra milk.

Oh and don’t leave them too long on the griddle or else they can dry out.

Grade B maple syrup — I’m a fan as well and use Coombs Family Farms in the glass bottle 🙂

This turned out so perfectly perfect! Definitely the best recipe I’ve ever used. I’m normally not the best cook when it comes to pancakes from scratch, but I followed your idea of mixing dry and liquid separate. (I didn’t make a well in the dry ingredients as the directions suggested, instead I beat the eggs/milk/vanilla/olive oil in a separate bowl then mixed it with dry.) The different tips were really helpful. I have never had even box recipes come out so fluffy and tasty as these did. My family loved them! This will be my go to recipe from now on. Thanks so much!!!

Sorry, but this recipe is horrible. You must not have the measurements right. I followed the recipe and I got dry, powder almost dough. I even added another egg and a cup of milk, but there was no saving it